Stuck in the middle with IU

Recently members of the IUPUI staff and faculty have voiced concerns regarding, what they perceive to be, lack of attention from IU President Adam Herbert. Some feel the Bloomington campus receives far too much attention and far too many resources from University administrators, which is a claim that is not entirely unfounded. It is true that the Bloomington campus does receive a disproportionate amount of attention relative to other campuses, but it does so for good reasons. \nIUB is the flagship campus and it is the campus that most people think of when talking about IU. This is no trivial fact. We live in a society driven by name-brands, and Bloomington is the brand that has the most cache. \nHaving said this, students and faculty from other campuses do benefit from Bloomington's brand name. For example, faculty publishing from satellite campuses seldom indicate the campus they are affiliated with on their published work; rather, they indicate that they are faculty at IU. Similarly, students attending satellite campuses are often not subject to the same academic standards as Bloomington students, yet their diplomas say the same thing as IUB's: "Graduate of IU." Therefore, it is not necessarily bad that IUB receives more attention and resources than other campuses.\nAdditionally, IUB needs more resources because it has a larger operation to sustain. We have the largest student population of all the Indiana campuses and it also offers the most programs. Common sense would suggest that the bigger the school, the more resources it deserves. Lastly, much of the external funding, not provided by the state, is generated by alumni donations. Many alumni of IUB make general donations to the University, which benefit all the campuses. \nHowever, the problem is a bit more complicated. IUPUI is not exactly a satellite campus. Currently, it is home to IU's dental and medical schools, and it will soon house the School of Optometry. Not only is IUPUI the medical hub of IU, it also has a distinct and vibrant community of its own. IUPUI thus suffers from an unfortunate middle child syndrome. It is not quite as big or prominent as the Bloomington campus, but it is not IU-East either. \nThis is a tenuous position for IUPUI, which believes that it can be more with more support from the president. However, this is an issue over which IUPUI has little control. Instead of griping about this issue, it should focus on issues that have the potential to become serious problems. \nNamely, Charles Bantz, the chancellor of IUPUI and IU executive vice president, is being asked to negotiate his time between two visible and vital positions. This arrangement is part of the reorganization of the University that is being overseen by Herbert. We feel that Bantz is likely to incur the same difficulties formerly incurred by Herbert because he will ultimately have to allocate his time to two demanding positions. The extent to which he privileges any one position will have ramifications for every member of the IU community.